What is the reason why so many tourists come over to Provence and Luberon ?

You, dynamic Tourists who want to have the best of your time,  like or even love France  : Landscapes have a unique variety, climate is mostly enjoyable,  a large concentration of historical spots, you get a lot of unspoiled traditional places like in the old times, cost of living is finally not so high and, important point, the country is (mostly) safe. A last point : Local people in general are not at the level of the London exquisite politeness but the French,  besides their natural indifference,  will finally behave nicely with you, when you are not cheerfully welcome. So it’s good.

For a foreign visitor, in France there are many, many things to do :

Seen from my viewpoint , Paris, of course the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum, Mont Saint Michel, the Loire castles, wine tasting in Burgundy, Aiguille du Midi in Chamonix, Côte d’Azur, enjoy good food….and …Provence.

Provence is unique in the unique. First impression : Light and Air Quality. You breath. Second impression : You are “really off”, on vacation. You are quick to forget all the difficulties of hard life. Then, if you are a bit organized, there are a large quantity of things to do. An advice : Don’t follow the crowds, select the best for yourselves with the time you have and don’t hurry-up. Until now, we strived our best to be helpful with our guests to take the most of their visit with us by preparing listings of things to do nurtured with our guests feed-backs : Best restaurants, best visits, potential problems etc … The aim is always : you spend 2, 4 or 7 days with us, What is the best you can do ?

Our website was not too bad but I knew for a while something had to be done to improve communication and feed-back. So at the end of January 2009, I started to build by myself and from zero this new website. Fortunately, there are fantastic tools and you don’t need anymore to be an expert to do something square. Anyway be indulgent, this is a trial, but with passion and tenacity it will get somewhere. So this new website, you have understood, is just to explain better who we are, what we are doing, what you can expect from us, what will be you environment and finally just to find the right ingredients for a perfect visit to Provence.

You might be curious to know a little bit who we are ? and your Mas des Etoiles.

First, we are both French, although Annette was born in Argentina and had an agitated life between an English College in Buenos Ayres ( The sisters taught her how to resist the appetance of sharks when swimming in the waters of the British Empire, you don’t learn that in French schools, do you ?) , horse driving in the Pampa, asados and also a few years of school in the Boston Massachussets area. As a result, I have to endure a much fighting spirit. After getting married in Palermo Chico, we mostly lived in Paris and the North of France (Lille) where was the original families centerpoint.

For us,  Life is a succession of projects (with variable success) and maybe Provence is the right one at the right time, we don’t know. In fact, we did not arrive here like that : We considered several places : New England, San Diego, Seattle, South Corsica, The Loire Valley and Provence. We selected Provence because, as many people from the North,we are attracted by Sun and Heat. Also the relative proximity with our kids and children. And it came to be Gordes, one of the best well-preserved villages in France ( In fact, for me personnaly the proximity of a nice golf course and an affordable piece of land  !)

Mas des Etoiles ( A Mas is a kind of old farm) is not the oldest XVII’s century manor in the area.

We moved to Provence in 2002. With Annette’s talents for Interior design and a good local architect, my taste for gardening, the advices of an excellent landscape architect we built the house and started the B&B (Thank you to our first guests) in Spring 2004. Now we are on our 6th year, already. Our house is like a very old one. But when you have lived in America you need everything to be ultra-convenient. So it  has,   besides a fancy Provence traditional decor,  the most modern outfits possible (air cooling by the floor, biological swimming pool etc …) Our location has a lot of advantages as we are close from Gordes center- 4 miles – , but not in the crowd. Most excellent visiting sites are within a 30 minutes drive. You can hike just outside. And all others : One hour maximum. You will not be anytime like driving between San Francisco and Yosemite ! Most of the time 10-20 minutes. This is a great thing. Our guests come, as we like it, of course from France and Belgium, our natural territories, but also as we like it from many many countries. We knew well a few nationalities for instance the USA, Canada, Australia, NZ, Germany, Italy etc … It is always easy to find a common point to start with and develop empathy. But we learnt to know and to enjoy very much citizens for instance of Israel, ZA, Romania, Japan, HK, and the list is long. All these nationalities are “fantastic” to meet.

Enough talking. What we want is you to be well here, Photos will speak by themselves. Your stay with us will make the rest. If you think close of all that, you are sincerely WELCOME in our house

Annette &  Francois

Mas des Andeols is in St Saturnin, something like 10 miles east from Gordes. The road is charming, especially in the evening. You should remember than the more you drive east, more it gets genuine and natural. So if you have time St Saturnin is a delightful place among many !

The best is to drive very slow in “downtown”  ( nice old houses with decorated doors)  of the past and maybe to go up to the church in the mountain. It is just full of surprises as you get into walls from Crusade Times  and you are like in a movie. This is for the impressions. More info on your guide.

Back to Mas des Andeols : It is an incredible place you can’t believe. Maybe it is a bit artificial, it ’s too much in the same time. You will appreciate by yourselves. Just know that it is a common place for the “jet set”" but you are welcome there. Besides the top modern decoration outfits of the houses (you don’t see), the restaurant is a special treat. It is one of the famous “Auberges Alain Ducasse” and it is just good luck to be there. For people who don’t know, Alain Ducasse is one the smartest “Cuisinier” in the World. So he makes excellent food, at good prices. The secret is, I think, that on top of his talents, he has a lot of leadership and sense of organization which goes to every detail.

This is the explanation for the out of norms dinner you will  have there.

So, not too bad for a celebration. And it is our 1st recommendation. Of course, your “tenue” has too be smart, but not with excess : It is an “Auberge “.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

From June to August, the lavender fields get to their best.

In fact, you have several different kinds of lavender which makes that the flowers come at different times. Basically, you have fields nearby and also in the mountains North behind Gordes.

You can have a superb day in combining  sightseeing of the seclused Ventoux area and Lavender watching. So good places are Sault, Montbrun-les-Bains and all the roads around. A good way in the afternoon, if the temperature is high, will be to make the circle thru Brantes and D40 just below Mont Ventoux. You can swim in the Toulourenc River, which is truly gorguous when it’s hot. Then Vaison-la-Romaine and back straight thru Malaucène and Isle sur la Sorgue.

Of course we help you in planning and show you the good spots.

An excellent day. Our guests loved it.

Around the Property

The Senanque abbey …

Un Jour Charlotte est un restaurant exquis situé très près du Mas .

Very close from us…

aaaaa

You absolutely don’t need to be a part  of a Tour de France Team to enjoy biking here. We have an exceptional ground for having fun.

Before departure, on the Mas Parking

Basically the idea is to take 2 of our bikes and go… If you want better outfit you can rent the in Coustellet, they prepare it for you and bring them the previous evening (and pretty cheap).

For that kind of entertainment, guests come back with many stories. There is one I like :  Last year we had a couple from Hong-Kong. Both were very thin and like intellectuals. They said : OK we want to have your tour around the Luberon valley and we take your bikes for the day. We just discover that they did not know how to ride a bicycle. This was very badly engaged. ( Sometimes we have guests from Hong-Kong who even have not their car driver licence – Not useful in a city like that). So we trained them, they fell on the floor several times and said : Let’s go… By four in the evening they were not back etc … Finally they came back by 6:00 PM, enchanted about what they did. They had made the whole tour. So you can.

On the secret roads of Luberon

So we give to our candidates a map with all the details and some alternatives for having lunch in a good place. It is only with small roads and unpaved stretches. Shortly they start from le Mas, Les Gros, go down to the main road Avignon -Apt, cross it, Oppede le Vieux, Menerbes, SaintHilaire Abbey (a real good spot), Lacoste, Lumières, Goult and back here. Maybe” 35  kilometers but everybody can do it in 6-7 hours !

The best in the best is the bike road  ( the one which makes the entire tour of Luberon) between Oppede and Menerbes. We have an incridable extention where you can discover a a cedar forest nobody knows except the rich American who lives there. The name is ” Poudarique”. Just after, the arrival on Menerbes is unbelievebal of beauty. Menerbes stands like a large boat in the middle of the fields. It is no surprise that so many British people elected to have a house there.